War Of Words Continues Over Fallout License

Bethesda and Interplay have both used media outlets as their mouthpieces today, as the war of words over the Fallout license spilled out of the courtroom.
Over at Eurogamer, Interplay’s president Eric Caen has claimed that if Bethesda continue to prevent his company from making a Fallout MMO, the terms of the license agreement are violated and ownership returns to Interplay.

“If they refuse to let us do the game, then the sale of the IP is terminated, and they will be allowed to do only one more Fallout, 5,” Caen said. “In that case, the IP will come back to us, and of course, we will complete our work and release Fallout MMO.”

Meanwhile, Bethesda’s PR man Pete Hines has been speaking with VG247. Hines states that “[Bethesda] own the rights to everything Fallout. The licence is ours. Fallout belongs to us. That’s what I’ll clarify … Beyond that, I’m not commenting on anybody else’s comments. It’s a legal matter.”

Hines is correct in stating that Bethesda own the Fallout IP. The company paid $5.75 million USD for it in 2007 and licensed the Fallout rights to Interplay for a Fallout MMO. However, this license came with certain conditions – conditions which Bethesda now say Interplay violated. In response, Interplay has claimed that Bethesda has violated the IP sale by preventing them from developing a Fallout MMO.